The gunman, 49-year-old Luiz Antonio da Silva, reportedly took a woman hostage in the cathedral earlier in the day. When a homeless man named Erasmo Francisco Rodrigues de Lima saw the incident unfolding he tried to intervene. Silva and Lima got into a brief scuffle and Silva shot Lima several times, killing him on the steps of the cathedral in front of a crowd of onlookers. Police then opened fire on Silva, killing him.
